I Call for the Master
by Nick the Raccoon
Summary: Chapter 3: I Call for the Master. Nack gets a chance to relive what happened in the past.


I Call for the Master  
  
by Nick "frwl" Byrd  
  
Part Three of this Legendary Tale! Now, If you read parts one and two, then the intro won't make sense... Don't worry, its natural. Actually, it might make sense if you remember the first paragraph of Nack's Golden Mistake... but maybe not.  
  
Nack, Knuckles T. Echidna, Ivo Robotnic, and Sonic T. Hedgehog are all copyright to Service and Games AKA SEGA. Nic T. Weasel is copyright to Archie. Nicholas is copyright to... me? Yes. Please distribute this file across the internet unedited, print it out and show it to all your friends, eat it, whatever, but in the end send credit where it should go (that would be to me).  
  
---I Call for the Master---  
  
It was November... Quite a cool night as I remember it. The year 4519. Sad really... It had been so long since all the problems started. But tonight I had planned to put an end to all this. I had to do it right this first time, or else I might have to wait even longer before a second chance came along.  
  
I looked out the window to see the moon. It was a sliver now… almost a new moon. Then I turned my attention back inside. A door had opened across the room, and I saw the silhouette of just the person who I knew would show up. The holster, the whiskers, the tail, the hat... everything that I knew of his appearance. I sat back and watched him sit down at the table about 20 feet from me. I watched from the corner of the bar and pulled my own hat down to protect my face from his eyes.  
  
Several minutes passed. He sipped on his Ginger Ale that he ordered. He was early. I checked out everyone else in the bar. Nothing unusual, a few drunks up by the tap laughing their heads off at each other's jokes (or maybe just at each other.), some businessmen sitting round a table fully dressed in suits sipping on Martinis... Nothing would get in my way. So I turned my attention back to him. I knew that he wouldn't leave, but I was still nervous. Then he caught on to me. He looked at me for several hard seconds. Then he turned his attention to something else across the room while showing off his large sharp fang. I guess it was just his way of flipping someone off. I lifted my head a little to let the light hit the lower half of my face and gave off a nice, "friendly" smile to him, if he was still watching.  
  
Then the door opened again. I put my head back down, covering up myself. An owl came walking over to his table and sat down. I wasn't tricked by the disguise. I knew that it was nothing but one of Robotnic's Cyborgs. So did Nack.  
  
Yes. Nack.  
  
"Nack the Weasel I presume?" I raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. Ivo had made quite a few improvements on the voice-chips of his bots in the past years. I gripped the handle I had under my trench coat. Almost time...  
  
"Yes," Nack replied.  
  
"Here." With that the owlbot placed a large bag on the table. "Don't open it until you get home. You will find instructions and your miss..."  
  
He didn't know that his head had been split. No one did for a second or so. I had quickly run across the room, pulled out my sword, and swung it with great power. I only nicked his chin, but the momentum of the slash was great enough to cut the rest of the machine's head in two. The bot was flung backwards into the wall and the remains of his head exploded when he slumped to the ground. It had gone so well, everyone's attention was to the bot, not to us. No one noticed that neither I nor Nack was gone. And even if they did, it wouldn't have mattered.  
  
I held on to the weasel with all my might. The lights and sounds were rushing past us quickly, it was no wonder why Nack was trying to break free of my grip. Weather he was scared of what was happening or was truly trying to get away from me, I really don't know, but he wasn't happy. I knew I couldn't let him go or things would get even more messed up.  
  
Then the flashing lights stopped, all was silent. We had arrived. 2019. I let Nack go, and he fell to the floor. He quickly picked himself up and looked around. We were in a small room of an old industrial building. What was he doing there? Then he turned and looked at me. "YOU! What did you just do?!" He lunged at me. All I did was smile and side step him, sending him back to the floor.  
  
"Calm down Nack. You are needed to fix something..." I pulled off my hat and showed him the rest of my face. He stared sharply into my brown eyes. "I am Nick Byrd."  
  
He growled at me. "I don't care who y'are! Now tell me, where did you take me!?"  
  
"Well, that is one of the questions to ask. You are at an old warehouse where things got screwed up over 2400 years ago. Actually, I should say that the mistake is about to start in less than a minute or so. I pulled you from the year 4500 to 2019."  
  
He scoffed at me. "Yeah, right. Now get me out of here you psycho!" I hadn't expected him to believe me when I said that to him.  
  
"Allow me to introduce myself more. I am also the Master of Time. This means that I was given temporary immortality and the job to make sure that time keeps itself running smoothly."  
  
"Enough of this sci-fi garbage!" With a large snarl he sent a punch my way. I smiled and simply dodged it. I took my flight another 20 feet away from him and watched as he sprung off his tail and came flying my way. I ducked, grabbed his tail, and gave it a hard twist. This sent him sprawling to the cold floor.   
  
"It can neither be proven scientifically or be fiction. And, as for garbage..." I slowed down time a good bit and ran behind him. He couldn't see it himself. I returned time to normal and watched as he franticly searched for where I went. I then snatched the hat off his head. While I looked at it for a few seconds, he turned around and looked at me, eyes wide, dumbstruck. "Well this hat certainly isn't that." I put the hat back on his head, and he jolted backwards when I did so.  
  
"W... What kind of magic trick was that?" He scoffed, trying to act unimpressed.  
  
"Would you call it a magic trick if I gave you more proof that what I say is true?"  
  
"And how would ya do that?"   
  
"Well, judging from what happened in you past life," I paused and looked at him. He seemed a little bit humored by what I said, but was still listening. "Inside your pack that that Bot gave you, you should find a pistol, some rope, a pair of knives, and two jump suits... And I believe that you will also find information on your mission... a hunt for the Master Emerald at the Floating Island?" He looked through it without pulling anything but the papers out. He seemed to be quickly skimming them. A baffled look crossed his face as he looked up from the papers. Then he tried being unimpressed again.  
  
"Lucky guess..."  
  
"You see Nack," I started, "History indeed is doomed to repeat itself when something goes wrong in the flow of time. That's how I knew." He sat there silent. Obviously it wasn't getting through though. "I'll give you more proof. Follow me." I started for a door on the opposite side of the room. As we were passing through though the doorway, I turned to him. "What I am about to show you, you might find disturbing..." We walked through a long dark hallway. "Oh, and we are in an incorporeal state. We can't interact with the world, and it can't see us even though we can look at it."  
  
"And just what is this that you are going to show me?" Nack asked.  
  
I remained silent until we reached a door at the end of the corridor. "I guess you could call it an unpleasant surprise."  
  
I opened the door and we walked through. Nack's blood ran cold as he looked forward. "That... looks like..."  
  
"Mmm-hmm," I hummed. I had frozen time until I knew Nack would be ready. So I asked, "Ready to see the whole scene?"  
  
He slowly nodded.  
  
I returned time to its normal flow...  
  
"I'm glad you could make it." Nack walked towards the desk which Ivo sat behind, but froze when he heard the door behind him slam shut. He turned to see a number of bots standing there, blocking the exit, with laser rifles pointed at him with deadly aim. An iron curtain blocked Nack from Robotnic. "You see Nack, lately you have cost me more than I have been getting from you. You have become worthless to me, and that makes you highly disposable."  
  
"So this is what this is about? My death... Well then, I will stick to my family's custom, I won't go down without a fight..." He turned to the bots, laser in hand, and fired.  
  
Back on my side of things, we watched the rest of the scene play itself out. Nack watched silently as the weasel in front of him fell to the ground. He watched himself die before his very eyes. I froze time again. "So now what do you think? Either that was one hell of a good set of actors, or what you saw was real."  
  
He pushed his hat up and scratched his head, obviously looking for a logical way to deny this. "I... I don't know..."  
  
I sighed. It would only get more painful. It was time for the coup. I knew that what I would then show him would break him. I put my hand out. "Hold on..." He looked at me hesitantly for a few seconds, then grabbed my hand, and I squeezed his. "Just in case."  
  
The lights passed again. Strange sound, time rewinding.  
  
We appeared in a courtyard late at night. "Breathe deeply Nack," I said, letting go of Nack. "It isn't very often that you get to enjoy the pure air of Angel Island."  
  
"What?" He was caught off guard by this.  
  
"Like I said, history will repeat itself in these circumstances. What I am about to show you will hurt you many times more than what you saw already.... Ready?" I pointed to a hallway connected to the courtyard. He nodded.  
  
The empty courtyard quickly took in two figures. "That looks like Nic and me... what the hell are we wearing?" I stopped time and looked to him.  
  
"Look in your bag again." He opened it up and drew out of it two dark suits. "Shall we continue?"  
  
I sped time onwards.   
  
  
  
It was a matter of seconds before Nic found where the Master Emerald sat. Nack made a loop out of the rope he had in his bag and gave it to her. "Ya think you can get it?" She was about to toss the rope when a siren blazed through the temple. Nack turned around. "Durn it!" he yelled. He ran to the exit but then turned when he realized that his sister was still trying to get the emerald down. She waved to him.  
  
"Don't leave!"  
  
"We can't...!" Nack yelled to her desperately, but he knew that she was deadset against getting the mission done.  
  
"Cover me!" Nack ran to the shadow of a pillar and waited. Soon the temple filled with echidnas, lead by Knuckles.   
  
"Stop!" he yelled at Nic. She tried to throw one of her knives at him, but failed miserably.  
  
Then Nack took a shot from his hiding place. Two echidnas by Knuckles' side fell. He was about to fire at the angered echidna, but then he got to close to Nic. She took a swing at Knuckles, but she was blocked. Knuckles then grabbed the weasel and drew his fist back for the kill...  
  
"Please! stop this!" the weasel at my side yelled at me, but he was to late and I knew that he had to watch the rest. We watched her fall, we listened as Nack sang his lament... but most of all, we watched her die. Then I stopped it.  
  
"I'm sorry, I had to do that."  
  
"Please... I believe you, your power. Now why do you need me?" he softly cried. But he had asked a hard question, but I already knew I would have to answer it sooner or later. Now was my turn to be sad.  
  
"I became the Master of Time around 2 weeks after your preincartate's death in the warehouse. I was in my mid-30s, my prime really. I was so happy when I realized that I had been chosen.  
  
"But the same day that I was given my power, something horrible happened. Time had a fit. Somewhere between 90 to 95% of all life on Mobius simply ceased. There wasn't an explosion, nothing violent, but just death.  
  
"When someone becomes a Master of Time, their 'term' is twenty years. But as you can see, I have been Master for thousands of years. My immortality is what keeps me looking young.  
  
"It was very saddening to realize that I was to watch time unfold after Mobius had nearly died. Almost all technology was lost, and the planet was so empty.  
  
"But I have seen it recover. However, this isn't good enough for me. My 'term' won't be over until I fix the problem that started on that fateful day. And if time were to continue for a little more than a month back in 4500, it would have happened all over again."  
  
"So, where do I fit into all of that?" He asked. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell him what I knew yet. It might make things worse if he knew.  
  
"I only have theories, and I won't bother you with those now." I paused for a few seconds. "So, will you fix it?"  
  
"How?" A good question, I hadn't explained yet.  
  
"All you have to do is survive that day in the warehouse. You need to get away from Robotnic, break away from his employment."  
  
Nack seemed to be thinking about it. "So you want me to live the life that I lived over 2000 years ago?"  
  
I nodded. "You must to change things."  
  
He nodded back. "But I was wondering how I would do this..."  
  
"It is somewhat hard to explain. What you must do is enter your old body. Your mind will fuse with his mind and body. I'm sorry I can't explain this in clearer terms to you, but it can be easily done from where we are."  
  
"I think I understand. But may I chose where in my life I want to live from?"  
  
"It can't be too far back. But I think I know what you want." I smiled at him.  
  
I explained to him what must be done in order to fuse himself with his old body. All he had to do would be to take the "potion," though it was really a simple knockout liquid. I would do the rest. So he took it and fell asleep.  
  
Nack easily fused to Nack, it was a simple process for me... The lament was the only thing that he remembered during the process.  
  
Turn Back Time  
  
Ease my desire  
  
I'll always remember  
  
The sadness I've seen  
  
In your eyes...  
  
Nack didn't remember waking up, all he knew was that he was standing there in a well lit corridor clothed in a strange suit. "Did it work?" He asked me.  
  
I smiled at him. "Welcome to the year 2019. You are now fully in your old body."  
  
Glancing backwards, he looked at Nic, standing there motionless, head turned to look down the corridor as if she thought they were being followed. I had yet to set time going again. "Do you have a plan?" I asked.  
  
He turned to me and smiled. "Yep, and a durn good one too... I'm ready..."  
  
"Good luck!" With that I disappeared from sight and set time spinning at it's normal rate.  
  
The two weasels entered the courtyard. Nic was too busy to see what Nack was doing, she was looking for the Emerald. Again she found it, suspended high off the floor by a pillar. Nack took out the rope and began making a loop out of it. "I can get it," he said with confidence. He made one throw and missed, but before the rope could even hit the ground again, the alarm was sounded. Nack pulled out his pistol and handed it to Nic. "Cover me from the shadows over there!" he said pointing. Nic was somewhat confused by this, but because of her panic at the sudden noise, she did it. Nack threw it up again, and missed again. 'This really is harder than it looks!'  
  
Yells echoed through the temple. Nack gathered up the rope again and was about to throw it when the guardian himself, Knuckles, entered the courtyard. "Stop!" he yelled.  
  
Nack simply looked at him for a few seconds, twirling the lasso in his hand. "Why should I?" With that he casually threw the rope up again, this time actually touching the emerald, but without getting the loop around it.  
  
The rope fell back to the floor. Knuckles growled. "Do it again and I will kill you..."  
  
Nack didn't seem to care at the comment. He began to gather the rope up again when he heard the slapping of shoes on the marble floor. He jumped backwards at the same instant that he saw Knuckles rushing him. "Whoa! I give up!" he said, dropping the rope.  
  
Knuckles simply stopped in his tracks about 5 feet from the lone weasel. He blinked in confusion. "What?" Nack never simply "gave up." There had to be some trick to this  
  
Nack listened as the temple was quiet. He was the only one who could hear it, a series of three clicks followed by a low frustrated growl. Nack nearly burst out laughing, but managed to keep a straight face. He reached into his bag, felt around, and pulled out a black rectangular object. He held it up. "Oops." Silence, not even the growl. But he could tell that Nic in her head was yelling at him.  
  
The echidna stood there, paralyzed. He wasn't sure what to do or say. "What?" he repeated, looking at the loaded clip.  
  
Nack turned to the shadows. It wasn't an award winning performance, but it was working. "Sorry Nic. My fault, I'll make it up to you. Now come on out, were stuck." Silence, no movement. Was she even still there? Nack's question was quickly answered.  
  
A flash, silver. It broke through the darkness. Nack knew exactly what it was and where it was headed. He couldn't let this happen, it would be worse than the visions I already showed him. He reached out his hand bravely and less than a second later, he stood there with a combat knife in his hand. He blinked at it, unable to tell weather he was more stunned by the fact that Nic had thrown it so well or that he had caught it from hitting Knuckles square in the forehead. Nack handed the knife slowly over to the shaken echidna and turned to the shadows. "Durn it lil' sis! Ge'out here!" His voice was shaken with anger. He knew she had a second knife...  
  
A few seconds passed, and then to everyone's relief they heard the footsteps in the darkness. Slowly she emerged. She continued walking until she was face-to-face with Nack. She growled through her grit teeth, "What kind of sick joke is this...?"  
  
Nack felt slightly scared at this. Nic was pissed beyond anything he had ever seen before... one wrong word and she would explode. "Err... I screwed up?"  
  
"BINGO!" Nic yelled. She clenched her fists and raised them to pummel her brother. Nack ducked to soften the blows, but surprisingly, they never came.  
  
Nack slowly looked back to his sister who was struggling to pound him. But someone was holding her back. He looked at the echidna's face... it was one that he had seen before, but when he had seen it, it was gripped with death. He noticed something else about her, she appeared to be part cyborg. "Now come on honey, let's not make any more trouble!" she said.  
  
Knuckles had had it beyond what he could hold. Anger and confusion, those were the only things that were coursing through his head. He grabbed Nack, spun him around, and held his shoulders to keep him from moving. He stared deeply into Nack's eyes, as if he were searching his soul or something. This went on for a good minute or so; Nack was too scared to move, and so was everyone else. But the stare was broken by a somewhat elderly echidna placing his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. He said something to the guardian in a language that Nack did not know. Then Knuckles would reply. The two seemed to be having some sort of argument. At one point Knuckles shrugged and waved his hand in Nack's direction. The older echidna walked over to Nack and gazed into his eyes just as Knuckles did. Nack was really beginning to get weirded out by all of this. What were they doing?  
  
The echidna then slowly reached up and began to take the dark cap off of the weasel's head. Nack jerked backwards, keeping the echidna from doing so, but he hoped that he didn't just do something wrong. The echidna simply looked at Nack, somewhat caught off guard by his sudden movement, and laughed, though Nack didn't see anything funny about the smell of his breath...  
  
The echidna then looked back to Knuckles and laughed a reply to the guardian. A few chuckles broke out from the rest of the crowd around them. Knuckles looked downwards for a few seconds, then gave a reply. He seemed to have come to some sort of decision.  
  
"Come with me," Knuckles said, waving his arm to the door. Nack walked amidst the crowd of echidnas while Nic was still trying to get free of the metal arms.  
  
"If I let you go," the female echidna started. "Will you promise not to try anything foolish?"  
  
Nic gave her answer through grit teeth. "Not much farther than..."  
  
"Than I can throw you?" The female picked Nic up with her strong arms, as if she were going to really throw the poor weasel. Everyone laughed at this, even Nack.  
  
"Ok! I won't do anything! Promise!" Nic screamed, making everyone laugh more. The echidna put Nic back on the ground. She followed the group, silently.  
  
Nack couldn't help but wonder exactly what the echidnas had in store for them. "Where are you taking us?"  
  
Knuckles stopped walking. They were at an intersection of hallways in the temple. He pointed down the corridor to their right. "You will be coming with me down this hallway. Nic however..." He pointed to their left. "She will go that way and spend the night in the temple's jail for attempted murder!"  
  
"WHAT?!" Nic yelled.  
  
"Don't worry my dear, you'll live." With that, two echidnas grabbed her arms and began walking her down the hallway.  
  
"Nack, when I get my hands on you...!" she yelled over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.  
  
"Come on." Knuckles lead Nack down the hallway. The female sped up and walked side-by-side with Knuckles, metallic arm wrapped around the back of his neck. Who was she? He would have to find out soon.  
  
They walked through the halls for a few more minutes. Then Knuckles stopped at one of the few doors that lined the corridors. "Here we are." He put his gloved hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. Nack was afraid to look; a hundred images passed though his mind. What could that room be? A torture chamber? Another jail cell? Gallows? What Nack saw was just about the last thing he would have thought of... A café?  
  
The group walked in, chose a table at the center of the room, and sat down. Nack looked around. Was this some kind of joke? A short echidna came half walking, half running through a door at the other side of the room. "Knuckles! what are you doing here at this late hour? And who..." He looked Nack over carefully. He retracted his next question, obviously knowing who he was. "You... you want something to drink?"  
  
Knuckles and the girl both ordered some drink that Nack had never heard of before, obviously something exclusive to Angel Island. It was Nack's turn to order... where was the menu? "You got any Ginger Ale?" The echidna nodded. "Easy on the cyanide." He added.   
  
Knuckles laughed at this. "Don't worry Nack, you're in a safe position." The waiter started back to the door to get the drinks.  
  
"Make that two Ginger Ales." Everyone looked to the source of the voice. The corner... Yep, there I sat again, watching Nack, waiting for the perfect moment to whip out the element of surprise on everyone.  
  
"Who are you?" Knuckles asked, standing up.  
  
"You can call me... the Master." Hah, that had a nice ring to it. "So, we're going to have a little talk here I see. Maybe I should join in, right Nack?" I shot a glance his way.  
  
The weasel nodded. "Ya should listen, this guy's pretty important."  
  
Knuckles sat back down. "Alright. Come here."  
  
I sat down at the table with Nack to my left and Knuckles to my right. I looked at the girl opposite me. "Ah, I don't think Nack here knows who you are yet." I looked to Nack. "Wouldn't you like to know?"  
  
She held out her robotic hand to Nack. "I am Julie-su." Nack took her hand with his right hand and tipped his hat with his left.  
  
Julie-su...Julie-su... something about that name stuck out in Nack's head. "Julie-su? Knuckle's lover?"  
  
The two echidnas looked at each other and blushed. "Well, if you want to look at it that way, yes." Julie said with a small smile.  
  
The waiter returned with a small tray of drinks. We took our beverages and waited for the guy to leave. "So, now that we are all introduced, why not start the interrogation?" I suggested to Knuckles.  
  
"Right. Nack... Why did you come here tonight?" Knuckles asked. I raised an eyebrow. Why would he ask that, he had caught them red-handed there in the temple. But wasn't there another reason for what happened tonight?  
  
"I think we know that," Nack started, sipping his drink. "I was here to get that Emerald."  
  
I laughed out loud. "I know that there was something else that you were thinking of besides the Emerald tonight." Nack stared at the table, avoiding eye-contact with anyone. "Why don't you tell them what would have happened."  
  
He looked to me, then to Knuckles. "If I had been the one in the shadows... and Nic was trying to get the Emerald... She would have died. You would have killed her."  
  
Knuckles blinked. "How do you know this? Why would I do that?"  
  
"Cause she was trying to get the Emerald! You said it yourself, you would have killed me if I got it down."  
  
I interjected again. "That isn't why he would have killed her, Nack. Why don't you tell us who else would have died if you hadn't have done what you did tonight?"  
  
He looked at me again, his eyes were burning with tears. He dropped his head, hiding his eyes behind the brim of his hat. Several seconds passed. Without raising his head... "Julie..."  
  
"What?" she gasped.  
  
"What are you saying?" Knuckles growled. "How do you know who would die tonight? Did you come here playing Fang as well?"  
  
"It's him!" he said, pointing at me. "He showed me everything..." With that he explained exactly what he saw that night when Nic died. I sat back and nodded at his words most of the time, and he ended with a plea. "You have to believe me."  
  
Knuckles looked at Nack. "That was... the most farfetched thing I have heard in a long time."  
  
"But every word of it is true," I started. "It's more than just a tale."  
  
Knuckles turned and was about to scold me, but Julie interrupted. "I believe it."  
  
"What?" Knuckles turned to her.   
  
"Don't you see? Nack came back to rewrite this night not for a second chance to get the Emerald, but in order to turn it from a night of pain and bloodshed to one life. If he really was the one in the darkness, he would have shot me-I was standing in the front of the group, I was the prime target." She paused to wipe a tear from her eye and laughed. "He even saved you life, willingly. He could have let that knife take you."  
  
"You're right," Knuckles sighed, buying into Julies words. "When we looked into your eyes (and no doubt you were confused by it) we could see that you meant no harm here. But tell me... did you come here just to save Julie and your sister? Was there any other reason?"  
  
I answered that one for Nack. "Yes, but I won't let Nack go into details over it. By the way..." I turned to Nack. "Have you put any thought into how you will go about your real objective? Can the echidnas help you at all?"  
  
Nack sat there silent for a few seconds, thinking. "No, not in the actual thing... but they could help me with something else... How close could you get me to Sonic?"  
  
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "So, you want to try catching him again?"  
  
"Not quite," Nack answered. "Let's just say that I would like to get the drop on him... a private discussion of sorts."  
  
Knuckles leaned back and let out a thoughtful hum. "I'm sorry, I can't help you with that. You'd have to wake up pretty early in the morning to catch that hedgehog off guard."  
  
Nack's face lit up. "You are a genius! Thank you Knux."  
  
He scratched his head. "Uh, no prob."  
  
The rest of the night passed fairly quickly. It was late morning when I next caught up with Nack. He was looking over the edge of the island. Even I had to admit, it was a glorious view that the islanders had. He turned to me as I approached. I could see he held the gun in his hand. "So much pain, so much death this almost brought to us..." He reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of bullets. He looked at them for a few seconds, and then threw them off the island.  
  
There was something besides the gun that was bothering him. I could sense it. "What's wrong?" I asked.  
  
He turned to me again. "Nothing's wrong... It's just weird. I remember everything that happened in the future, but I also remember things that happened in this past life... the life that I never really lived. Yet it is all so similar to my future life."  
  
I smiled. "It's best not to try to figure it all out. You'd wear yourself out!" I laughed. "This 'old' life has become your life now... It was never meant for anyone to be 'reincarnated' like what happened back there. Now..." I looked off into the beautiful horizon. "Now everyone's soul can find their eternal home...no more reincarnation." I paused. "That is if you can fix this."  
  
"I know I can." He had a mischievous look on his face... a sign that he had a plan.  
  
Something far off behind me caught his attention. "Oh no... what should I do?"  
  
I turned and saw Nic slowly walking our way. "Just tell her what you need to. I have a feeling that she'll understand." I began walking away. "You two might need some private time."  
  
A minute later, Nic stood face to face with her brother. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were shot. A low growl emitted from the weasel. "Why?" she started, quietly. "Why did you do it?"  
  
"Nic, listen. I did it for everyone's good..."  
  
"What a load!" She exploded. "We could have taken on and beat all of those echidnas and made off with the Emerald! You know that!"  
  
"Nic, sit down!" Nack snarled in an authority that only an older brother could use on a younger sibling. She shrunk backwards, afraid of her brother for once. "Listen," he said in a much softer tone.  
  
Nack told her just what I hoped he would. He told her who I was, what I had done, and what he had seen that tragic night. "I'll never forget your last words..." he paused and looked away from his sister. He could not continue if he kept eye contact with her. "You said you loved me."  
  
Nic sat there with her arms crossed. "A touching story, but how do I know you didn't just make that up?"  
  
"Nic!" Nack was insulted by that. "Look at me, am I the kind of guy who would do that?" Nic looked at him... a tear was making its way down his furry cheek.  
  
"You... your telling the truth?"  
  
"But of course.." Nack said quietly.  
  
"Ok Nack," she hugged her brother. "I believe you... thanks."  
  
86 hours later...  
  
Sonic lay there in his bed asleep, dreaming of... let's not go there. But that didn't last long. His eyes slowly opened. He had that feeling... something wasn't right. Something about his room wasn't the way it should have been. He lay there, silent, simply listening for what it was. Nothing. A few minutes passed. Still nothing. He closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep.  
  
No, something was definitely wrong... something wouldn't let him sleep. He sat up and scanned his room. His heart stopped. Something... sitting about 2 or 3 feet from the foot of his bed. "Who's there?" he asked into the darkness.  
  
"Good morning, Sonic." Nack's voice replied.  
  
"WHAT! What are you doing here?!" Sonic yelled. Nack watched as he reached under his pillow.  
  
"Nice try." Nack held up a stun gun that he had taken out from under Sonic's pillow. Sonic just looked at it.  
  
"So, you come to catch me again? You chose the cheapest of times. Yet again, I wouldn't expect anything more of you..."  
  
"Shut it, blueboy." Nack interrupted. "I've got more use for you than capturing you. As a mater of fact, I think you would like to go along with my plan."  
  
"What are you talking about? Why would I help you?"  
  
"You would help me cause you would like my plan... I know that you either have explosives or could get them very easily..."  
  
"Explosives? No way, what would you do with them? Blow the village away?"  
  
Nack laughed. "Not this time." He told Sonic what he had planned for them, and Sonic listened.  
  
"Now I see why you are hated by the good guys and the bad guys."  
  
"So tell me," Nack started. "Will you give them to me?"  
  
Sonic sat silent for a few seconds. "How can I trust you?"  
  
"I swear on my sister's life I wouldn't do anything to you with them... or anyone else who doesn't deserve it."  
  
"Deal... don't make me regret this."  
  
"Oh trust me, you won't." Nack's fang shown in the small bit of moonlight. One man's Freedom Fighter was another's terrorist.  
  
Six days later...  
  
Ivo Robotnic sat at his desk back at his "home", working on a new type of attack bot. He hadn't heard from Nack since their last meeting in the warehouse and guessed that the mission had ended in failure. He figured that he would just have to try again...  
  
The wall mounted screen flashed on. "INCOMING LOCAL TRANSMITION."  
  
"What?" Robotnic was surprised by that. "Who's there?" He asked to the screen. A flickering picture of Nack came on the screen.  
  
"Hello Robotnic." Nack replied.  
  
"How did you get a local signal?" Ivo asked. "And where is that Emerald?"  
  
"Sorry Robotnic, I gave up that mission of yours. By the way, thanks for the pistol and the bike."  
  
"You don't just give up on me like that!" Robotnic yelled at the screen. "Get back to the island and get me that Emerald!"  
  
"No!" Nack yelled back at him. "You don't deserve it. If you want it so bad, go get it yerself. Now, I'm sorry I can't chat longer, but I have to go. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would turn you attention to the bot production area..." The transmition was cut off.  
  
Ivo flung open the curtains and looked across the large number of buildings. What was that fool talking about? Suddenly Robotnic froze. A massive fireball emerged from the production area. Then another. Nack had blown a hole in Ivo's system. He watched, dumbstruck by the sight, until he remembered... Nack! He had to be close to detonate remote explosives like that. He ran (not a pretty sight) to his desk and slammed on the intercom button. "Metal Sonic! Nack the Weasel is somewhere nearby. Find him, and kill him!"  
  
Nack watched from a safe distance as the firework show lit the complexes up. Mission accomplished. Time to go home. The problem was that he couldn't get his bike through undetected, he had to get there by foot mostly. He was about to start his walk when he saw something... It shot into the sky and sat there a few seconds. "Durn it." Metal Sonic was looking for him. Nack ran for all he was worth.  
  
It didn't take Metal long to find the mobile target. It launched itself at Nack with blinding speed. Nack could sense it, something bad was about to happen. He stopped, sat back on his tail, and sprung himself as high as he could. He watched as the flying bot missed crashing into him by a matter of inches. Nack landed on one of the many rooftops around him. No time to stop... He began running again, jumping the space between buildings. Metal wasn't slow to recover however. It turned to see Nack running and launched a missile out of its torso. The blast missed Nack by several feet, but the shock sent the weasel flying out of control. He tried to land on his feet when he hit the ground, but his feet slid and he found himself face down in the dirt. No time to stop and check for injuries or Metal would rip him a new one. He quickly picked himself up and began running.  
  
'You can't outrun it Nack, you know that.' He thought. 'You gotta outdo it somehow!' Nack turned into one of the factory's open doors. He ran through all of the junk lying around; He was surprised that he didn't trip over anything, it was so dark. Oops, bad timing to think that. He felt as he ran his right shoulder into a large support for the building. The blow sent him sprawling to the ground, but he quickly recollected himself and ran to hide behind it. Metal flew past... maybe he went unseen. Oops again.  
  
Metal suddenly stopped and turned around. Nack only looked. He was trapped. The bot's laser enhanced eyes glowed in the dark, taunting him. Time to die again... Maybe not. A thought flashed into his head, suicidal, but his only chance. Nack put his hands in the air. "I surrender."  
  
Nack guessed that Metal would have laughed if it could have talked. A second later, the laser was fired, Nack ducked at the perfect second. The laser split the support and Nack ran past the bot to the exit... Metal was now not the biggest threat to him. The bot stopped the laser and turned to the weasel, aiming to fire another missile. But it detected a loud noise above... Metal looked up to see the ceiling coming down, but too late to escape. It tried to support the weight of the factory roof, but it was too much...  
  
Nack jumped for the exit, but even with that tail, he didn't jump far enough. He landed on his belly, and the ceiling came crashing down on the lower half of his body. He yelped out mostly in panic. This would have to be death, right?  
  
The dust began to settle. Nack looked around, he was still alive. He had made it most of the way out of the building, but his left leg was caught under the debris. No sign of Metal... That made sense, it was right at the center of the cave-in. Nack felt that he wasn't terribly hurt, but just trapped. 'C'mon Nack, you gotta get going before they find you!' He tried in vain to pull himself free. No good. Suddenly something streaked across the sky and landed thirty feet away. Someone got off of the flying thing. "Nack, Nack!" Someone was calling for him... It was Nic.  
  
"Over here!" Nack yelled back. She ran over to him.  
  
"What happened?" She asked him, but he didn't answer that. She managed to lift the debris off of him and he slowly began walking to the bike.  
  
"I'll live. Get in back." Nack yelled over his shoulder. But then his legs seemed to stop working. He found himself face down again. "mmf... Would you help me sis?" But she was at his side before he said that. With the aid of Nic, he slowly limped to the bike and got on the back seat.  
  
Nic hit the throttle and sped off into the sky at top speed. "Why did you come here?" Nack asked Nic.  
  
"He... Nick told me you would need my help."  
  
"Well, your timing was perfect." He spat a bit of blood out of his mouth back at the factories. A nice, long warm shower would do wonders for him when he got home.  
  
A week passed. What wounds Nack had were already healed. He had received a mysterious invitation to a meeting... back at the warehouse. It wasn't the wisest thing to do, but he went. He most certainly went prepared though. He entered the building with a rifle and full body trench coat on... obviously he had body armor on underneath, and probably a few other surprises. All that topped off by his classic hat.  
  
But he wouldn't need it. I flipped the lights on. It was my turn to sit behind the desk. "Welcome Nack... have a seat." I had set up a chair opposite me. He scanned the room for anything hostile. Nothing, no bots waiting to pop the weasel this time. He slowly came over and sat down.  
  
"What is this?" He asked.  
  
"I have good news and bad news, Nack." I started. "The bad news is that I don't have a bounty for you to hunt. Sorry, I'm not that kind of man."  
  
"Hmmm... then why did you call me here?"  
  
"That's the good news." I stood up and walked around the desk. "Remember that I said I had theories for why you held such an important roll in fixing the problems in time? Well, my theory is confirmed."  
  
"Well, what does that mean?"  
  
I raised an eyebrow. "It means that I can become mortal again." He looked confused... heh, he should have been, I was beating around the bush. "You want to know who is to be the next Master of Time?"  
  
It took him a second, but judging from the sudden look of surprise on his face, he figured out what I was saying. "No... you couldn't mean..."  
  
I smiled and nodded. "Yep. I mean you. Your next question is why and I don't know. Time works in mysterious ways really."  
  
I looked at him, he had tears of fright in his eyes... something like a small boy who's about to take his first swim. "You think I don't know how it feels?" I tried to comfort him. "Trust me, being immortal ain't such a bad thing." I paused. "But I have been one too long... the world can get boring."  
  
"Wh...what do I have to do?" I could see he was getting more interested in it by the second.  
  
"To become Master? Nothing special, no initiation or anything."  
  
"But I can travel through time and stuff?" Now he was really into it.  
  
"Eh, not really. I was only able to do it because I had to. When time screws up, you get those powers. All you have to do is sit back, watch time pass by, and figure out who will be your successor. But if anything goes wrong, and pray that it doesn't, then you will be able to manipulate time."  
  
He seemed to lose spirit. "But what about those I know? Nic, my employers... what do I tell them?"  
  
"You tell them what you want them to know. There isn't anything against telling people about your power, but do you really want the world to know? Do you want all the attention?"  
  
He nodded. "I understand. And what will happen to you?"  
  
"I will live out the rest of my mortal life. Nothing to it!"  
  
He laughed. I could tell, he was ready. "Now, stretch out your hand."  
  
I watched as he slowly did so. "Now, take your hand back." He looked at me confused. He didn't get it. "HMMM..." I held my hands out and looked at them. "There is a slight difference between my hands and yours... I wonder what in the world it might be?"  
  
Then he caught on and took his gloves off. "Much better." He stretched his hand back out. I placed my fingertips to his...  
  
How can I explain what happened next? To put it in the simplest terms, I let my power flow from me to him. It took hardly any time whatsoever.  
  
I breathed in deep. "Ah... to be mortal again... I feel so vulnerable... I love it.... Oh, that reminds me. You may be immortal, but invincible you aren't!"  
  
He looked confused. "What? that's it? I'm immortal now?"  
  
"Well, what did you expect? Peals of thunder, the sky to fall or something? It isn't that complex."  
  
I turned and walked to the door. "Remember, twenty years! Have fun." I paused as I opened the door and stepped into the cool night air. "We will meet again."  
  
There I left the weasel... alone. He slipped his glove back on. He didn't feel very different... but there seemed to be a strange power flowing through him...   
  
He walked out to his bike. I was no where to be seen. He looked up to the sky. "Well Mama, I guess we won't be seeing each other too soon."  
  
The End  
  
Well, what do you think? I know. It's weird. Live with it. Nack is still Nack, everyone's favorite hunter/hitman... err, hitweasel. I would never change that. But immortal for twenty years! He's bound to make bigger risks because of that, but he will soon find that it might not be the smartest thing to do...  
  
Please! send me your thoughts! I need your feedback! (e-mail: nbyrd@almaheights.org) (AIM: wlbyrd) (YIM: frwlgcxl)  
  
Next chapter!  
  
Nightmare Come True 


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